Monday, March 13, 2006

Google Anti-Arab?

This is an example way back in the day that I had posted on.

Yesterday, I came across another interesting property of the Google search engine.


Now, it has to be said that this is most probably a coincidence. Google ranks its pages using, and bases its "Did you mean" system on, ... simplistically speaking ... mathematical theory (and quite an elegant one as well).

So although the conspiracy theorist in me wants to believe that there is some rabid creature in Google hard-coding the search engine into an anti-arab phenomenon, I will, in this case, have to blame a century year old theorem rather than "the west" ...

... but you never know ... maybe there is a rabid creature in Google hard-coding the search engine into an anti-arab phenomenon ...


posted by Lazarus, 11:37 PM

18 Comments:

  • I don't think that Google has itself some political agendas, but like most other internet services, it can be hacked.

    Try googling "failure" and see what the first finding is.

    By Blogger Mustapha, at 2:22 AM  

  • And this is a problem because?

    Sorry Laz, but if you're even semi-serious here, as opposed to joshing, I'd say this is in the category of the cartoons outrage business.

    maybe there is a rabid creature in Google hard-coding the search engine into an anti-arab phenomenon ...

    Spoken as a true Arab Laz: conspiracy, and Arab behavior is nowhere connected to these stereotypes-jokes-biases etc.

    By Blogger JoseyWales, at 4:33 AM  

  • Of course there is no conspiracy JW
    see http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1139395510065&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

    The behavior of anybody is never an excuse for prejudice against an entire people.

    Issam

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:49 AM  

  • Sanctimonious Issam: Predictable and wrong as usual.

    Yes I am saying that "there is an Arab-terrorisn connection".

    I know that is considered "prejudice" in your PC idiotic circles where Swiss-terror is on par with Arab-terror.

    Most terrorism today is Arab or Arab-connected.

    Arab people and governments are doing very little about it.

    When I am at the airport, I watch the Mideast looking guy with the stubble, more closely than the Guatemalan granny. Who do you watch?

    By Blogger JoseyWales, at 7:01 AM  

  • Mustapha - the "failure" example can arise from two different reasons. 1 - either someone did program google to do that. 2 - the algorithm google uses comes up with that on its own. With the "failure", I tend to the first one. However, this can happen without a hack. Someone within google can do this - and trust me, it is very possible (and easy) to do.

    JW - I wasn't exactly serious. I do believe that this one is a result of the way google works, mainly because irhab and arab have been closely linked these days.

    Issam - the link didn't work. Can you repost?

    By Blogger Lazarus, at 7:11 AM  

  • You know Lazarus, I was about to comment along the "you can't be serious laz" lines, but just before I did, I ran a small experiment and googled a series of maybe 10 words that were as close or closer to arab than irhab (ardab, arbab, irbab etc.) some of which turned up as few as 800 hits, none of which gave me a "did you mean arab" prompt, which I found rather interesting. Maybe there IS a conspiracy after all :)

    By Blogger Fouad, at 8:25 AM  

  • Laz,

    I knew t'was a fun post. My reply was tongue in cheek as well. (But I also wanted to make an old point, which predictably brought out one of the usual suspects).

    By Blogger JoseyWales, at 10:08 AM  

  • Works for me, Laz. Try it again.

    http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1139395510065&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


    My dear gunslinger, JW, tongue in cheek racism -good one. As for terrorism it is unfortunately, practised by many in the world. Arabs and Muslims do not have a monopoly on this .


    "Most terrorism today is Arab or Arab-connected."

    Jews were caricatured as anarchist bombers at the turn of the last century and this anti-Semitism set the stage for the holocaust.

    JW, if you look in the mirror you will see someone who looks like an Arab and probably has an Arab name. Best of all you want to be distinguished as violent.

    All the Lebanese where I live suffer from Anti-Arab prejudice and racism.

    We are all affected by your disease.

    Issam

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:52 PM  

  • Isso,

    As always , you refuse to answer simple questions, because you can't. You resort to name calling.

    As always, you spout irrelevant facts: Yes the majority of Arabs are not terrorists as every one knows.

    And yes there are non-Arab terrorists.

    Both these facts do not negate that the majority of terror acts are today committed by Arabs.

    You may not like it, but it is something you can't recognize: a FACT.

    Maybe you can fathom this.

    Fact:Majority of drunk drivers don't have accidents.

    Fact: Some accidents are committed by people who are not drunk.

    Fact: Drunks have a higher rate of accident than sober people.

    My "racist-prejudiced" advice to you is: stay clear of drunk drivers.

    So, O Wise One,what is your PC advice on this matter?

    By Blogger JoseyWales, at 5:21 PM  

  • For God's sake you idiot, do you actually have any understanding of the way search engines work?

    Google isn't making a connction between 'irhab' and 'arab', it is making a connection between a word it doesn't recognise because it does not appear in the english language (irhab, just in case you really need this explained to you) and a word that does (that's right, arab).

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:33 PM  

  • euh ... anon ... reread my post. in case you didn't get my point the first time!

    ... and if you don't get what I had written ... let me know.

    By Blogger Lazarus, at 11:40 PM  

  • thanks but i did get your point, too well.

    you wanted to be clever by having your cake and eating it too.

    you suggest that google is racist but then dismiss your own suggestion a line or two later. It's an ambiguous and dishonest rhetorical practice that allows you to say something without taking responsibility for it.

    because let's face it, if you don't think at some level that there is a rabid (hmmm, ever notice how closely 'rabid' resembles 'arab' - wonder if there's a centuries-old conspiracy there too?) creature hardcoding google's search engine, why would you have bothered to write this comment at all?

    oh, and by the way, 'most probably a coincidence' doesn't count as a denial.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:19 AM  

  • bravo "person who criticizes withoug signing off with a name", walla bravo. you've convinced me. i think i'll go delete this post ... in shame ... because someone has figured out my true intentions.

    you're right. "most probably a coincidence" doesn't count as a denial. which is why i also added that i will have to blame a century old theorem (you get a surprise gift if you can guess which theorem that is).

    as for why i bothered with this comment - you are also right. my intentions are sinister ... beyond belief. it has nothing to do with an observation that simply brought a smile to my face, an analogy to something that has been going on in the world, and then a decision to post something ... with tongue in cheek ... in other words, to make a "parody" using google's algorithms as a scapegoat. no, that can't be it at all.

    just some advice for next time when you decide to give some constructive criticism: don't bash a cake that didn't exist to start with. for sure don't create strawmen. it makes intelligent arguments seem extremely unintelligent. i'm sure you can do better than that.

    By Blogger Lazarus, at 9:34 AM  

  • Mmm, right. Because as the author of an entire blog written under the pseudonym of 'Lazarus', you are entitled to throw those kinds of stones.

    As for your intentions, they may well be sinister. That is for you to know. Personally, I wouldn't give you that much credit.

    I simply wrote that you are an idiot and as nothing you have subsequently provided by way of reply gives me reason to believe otherwise, I stand by my initial impression.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:18 AM  

  • nicely said anon. you have every right to stand by your initial impression ... and in your case, i am glad that you have decided to use that right.

    you see, you claimed i was an idiot based on me "not knowing how search engines work", but since i wasn't going to pull out my credentials to show that I understand the (theoretical and practical) algorithms used quite well, i instead asked you a simple and subtle question the answer of which is the essence of how they work ... which you expectedly didn't answer, possibly because you don't know the answer. instead, you reverted to cliched ad hominen, which was also expected. that in itself says alot.

    (as an aside, w.r.t. the name "Lazarus", although you may not know my real name, quite a few readers do.)

    By Blogger Lazarus, at 8:16 AM  

  • Aear 'although you may not know my real name, quite a few readers do',

    1) You're hilarious.

    2) I know enough about how search engines work to understand that when one is faced with a word it does not understand, one avenue the programme takes is to try to find the nearest equivalent, in terms of letter configuration, that it can. Hence the irhab-arab thing is not some kind of value judgement.

    3) I also know that the particular algorithm each search engine uses is secret. Perhaps you have insider information on google and so are better informed, who can say?

    4) Finally, if by 'cliched ad hominem' you are referring to me calling you an idiot, again, I bow to your better judgement. Only you can know if you have been accused of idiocy frequently enough for it to now constitute a cliche.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:18 PM  

  • Perhaps you have insider information on google and so are better informed

    Bingo.

    By Blogger Lazarus, at 1:45 PM  

  • so you have the inside information, you know all about alogorithms, you know that google wasn't making a value judgement by suggesting 'arab' as a search equivalent for 'irhab' and yet you still go an publish your tripe.

    you are right. it has become cliched to call you an idiot.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:27 PM  

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